A Noble Man! This Sri Lankan Taxi Driver Reunites Adoptees With Their Families For Free

Andrew Silva, who is a father of two and a cab driver from the city of Negombo, has been linking international adoptees to their birth mothers across Sri Lanka. Over the past 20 years, the 56-year-old has helped approximately 175 adopted individuals to be reunited with their families.

A Day Into The Life Of Andrew Silva

During his typical days, Silva persists in working his day job of ferrying tourists across Sri Lanka, from the tea estates of Kandy to the ruins of Sigiriya. However, he assists kids and parents reconnect at no cost during his free time.

"This is not a business, and this is one of the best things to help human beings," Silva told Aljazeera during an interview. The 56-year-old only asks to be compensated for his fuel expenses if he can find their families.

One more point which is worth mentioning is that Silva has no background in bureaucracy, detective or genealogy work, and he is a normal individual with a van, a network and an investigative zeal.

"I can't promise. If you say, 'Andrew, help me find my biological mother', I can't say, OK, I will [be able to] do it. But I say, I will try," he added.

As per the report mentioned above, the Lankan man can be seen locking his van to settle down for dinner, after which he brings out two squat brown-paper notebooks, which have the words "Mothers" and "Childrens" (sic) written on them in maroon letters.

These books are filled with details on Sri Lankan mothers who had placed their kids for adoption and want to find them (over 200 entries) or kids who got adopted and were looking for their birth families (over 1,000 entries).

History Of Adoption In Sri Lanka

Since the 1970s, approximately 11,000 children in the island country were reportedly adopted by white Western couples, often under suspicious circumstances, with numerous poor women exploited and young ones even getting sold for cash.

As per reports, France, Netherlands, and Sweden are the top three receiving nations from Sri Lanka.

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